The Secret in the Siege: a Different Story
by bringonthew0nder
Summary: At the end of the Secret in the Siege, Booth saves Sweets from the killer, but what if he had been delayed or couldn't reach him in time? This fic basically sums up my and everyone else's fears of what would've happened if Sweets had been shot and died. One-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**So basically just a different ending to the latest Bones episode, The Secret in the Siege (is that the season finale?) I'd been freaking out that Sweets actually would die (and thank the lord and the good souls of the writers of Bones that he didn't) and decided to write a fic of what would happen if he did. Very short, but I hope you like it. I tried really hard to capture the filial relationship between Booth and Sweets - it's a deeper connection than either of them like to admit, and it truly is a father-son relationship for both of them. **

**I don't own Bones. Please don't forget to review!**

"Sweets!" Booth called over the traffic jam. More protests sprung up when he jumped to a yellow taxi. He glanced to the sidewalk again. The girl had a huge lead. Crap...come on...let me have this one...Booth prayed. He pulled out his gun as a precaution. He didn't have to want to shoot anyone, but he may have to in order to save his friend. Booth saw the girl pull out her gun and everything went in slow motion.

She took aim at Sweets' car window first, walking towards it in order to kill him the way she killed all the others. He pulled out his gun to shoot at her to cripple her, but suddenly felt pressure on his ankle. A man had gotten out of his car and put his hand around Booth's ankle. He tried desperately to pull his foot out of the offender's grip and gesture to him that he needed to go, but it was too late. The man pulled him down, Booth's face smacking into the side of the car before hitting the pavement.

"Sweets!" he called out for the last time in desperation. His friend didn't hear him.

A shot was fired. Blood splattered against the pavement and the car. Booth heard Bones call out to him, "Booth!"

He heard heavy footsteps coming towards him and a boot kicked him in the head.

"Too late, Agent Booth," he heard the killer taunt. The kick sent his vision swirling and he was seeing double. She laughed and ran away, integrating herself back into the crowd. Booth grunted with effort as he tried to pull himself up, the man who had pulled him down just staring at him in horror. When he recovered, he held his head before shoving the man against the expensive car he had been so keen to save from Booth's feet.

"You may have just caused the death of a good man," he snarled in his face, "Let's hope for your sake he's not dead. Don't go anywhere." The man put his hands up and backed away. "Stay in the car and don't move!" Booth demanded, yelling as he walked backwards towards Sweets, "I will find you if you run!" Then he turned back around and focused his whole self on finding Sweets...hopefully alive.

As he approached the car, the scene that greeted him was not a positive one. The car door was flung open, the window broken, and Sweets was lying on the ground sideways next to it. His head wasn't blown out like the other victims of the tragic case, but he had been shot. His hand was outstretched by his side, his gun lying in his open hand, with blood on the end of it. So he had fought back. He was still alive, but barely. He'd been shot right in the heart and breathing too quickly. His eyelids were fluttering and he didn't seem to be in control of his body.

Booth swore loudly before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Bones there.

"Bones, get some help, now!" She shook her head. He looked at her in desperation. "Bones?"

"Booth, he's not going to make it, not with that much blood." She had tears in her eyes, "She must have hit his heart or a major artery." She put a hand over her face and Booth scrunched his face in concentration, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"No!" he hissed, "Can't you get someone? Help me!" He had his hands over his friend's wound, trying to staunch the blood, but as usual, Bones was right. It was too much. He knew that much before he even asked her, but he didn't want to believe it. She bit her lip to hold back a sob and nodded, running the other way.

"Stay with me, Sweets, come on, we're gonna pull through this. You can do this," Booth encouraged, trying desperately to ignore the blood leaking through his fingers and the faintness of his breathing.

"Booth, it's too late," Sweets said faintly in between gasps, "You can't save me. I know you'll try, but you can't."

"You're gonna be fine. Sweets, Bones is getting you some help now. Just stay awake." Sweets swallowed and glanced down at his wound. He shook his head at Booth.

"She was right, I'm not going to make this. I'm sorry, Booth."

"No! This is nothing. Just a scratch, just a little thing. I've had worse."

Sweets let out a raspy laugh. "Right." He put a hand on Booth's, trying feebly to remove it. He looked up at him seriously. "Let me go, Booth."

Booth shook his head. "We're not letting you go." Sweets grew more serious, but his hand dropped to his side as his breathing got too shallow for Booth's liking. His body was going limp, his head falling back to the pavement.

"Sweets! Stay with me!" Booth shouted, "We're getting you help, just hold on for a couple more minutes!"

Sweets looked at him, a mixture of solemnity and sorrow.

"Let. Me. Go." His eyes glazed over and he let out a heavy sigh. He was gone. Booth's hands were shaking when he took his hands slowly off of his chest. He knew full well he was gone. He had seen it too many times before.

"Dammit!" he cursed loudly, punching the car with his bloody fists, making his knuckles bleed. His whole body was shaking with fury. He stood up slowly before looking around for Bones or anyone else he knew. They all looked like strangers to him. He didn't see her or anyone else anywhere.


	2. Epilogue

**Hi! So I was asked for a continuation just on everyone's reactions, so I made an epilogue. I hope you like it, and this is it for this fic. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :D**

**I don't own Bones**

The lab was quiet that afternoon. Angela was the first to meet them when Booth and Bones came back to the Jeffersonian. She left them in tears, running to Hodgins for support.

"Are you serious?" Hodgins asked them, coming out of his office with an expression mixed with rage and sorrow. "How did this happen, Booth? You just didn't get to him?" Booth immediately scowled at him and growled,

"Some idiot slowed me down because I was walking on his car. Speaking of which, I'm going to bring him in and charge him with accessory to murder…."

"Seeley, what happened?" Cam asked, coming out of her office after seeing Angela's face, "Is Sweets okay? Is he hurt?"

"Booth was unable to reach him in time, Doctor Soroyan," Brennan explained quickly, "Doctor Sweets is dead." Cam let out a small 'oh' and her face visibly fell.

"I'm sorry...I know how much he meant to you two in particular," she apologized. Bones was holding her head high, but it was obvious she was struggling with this. But it definitely hit Booth the hardest.

"Thanks Cam…" he mumbled, his voice weak as he tried to keep the lump in his throat down.

It wasn't fair. Sweets was always there for him and he often pushed him away even when he knew he needed him. And now he was gone.

Bones slipped her hand into Booth's and leaned on his shoulder. He let his head fall to rest on hers and he closed his eyes, a few tears sneaking past to fall down his face silently. After a moment he wiped them away quickly, and with renewed energy, told them,

"I'm going back to the FBI. They need to know what happened, and I need to find the girl and the guy who slowed me down. Sweets fought back. He got blood on the butt of his gun: her blood." He paused to pull it out of his pocket and show them. "She'll be hurt and not moving as quickly. I'm going to put all my agents on finding her. I'm also going to put a couple on finding that other idiot…" He put a hand on his forehead in frustration. "You all do something Squint-y, or help me. We're not letting this go quietly." Cam nodded, as did Hodgins and then Angela.

"You know I'll always be there for you," Bones added.

"Okay," Booth said, his voice still slightly weak, "Cam, I need you and Bones to help me at the FBI. Angela, if I describe the guy I'm looking for, can you try to match a face to a car?" She nodded and said,

"I can certainly try."

"Hodgins…be helpful. I don't have any bugs for you to analyze, so maybe help Angela or us."

"I'll stay with Angie, I can call you if we find something."

Booth nodded. "Good. This ends tonight! We're not letting her or him get far. And if we're lucky, we'll get them both and a location on Pelant."

((()))

In the end, they had managed to track down the guy and the sniper girl, but Booth was forced to shoot and kill her in self defense. Luckily, he didn't feel too bad about it. He did hate taking the lives of others, but he made a few exceptions. He never would have killed her if not to defend himself and Bones, though.

"Bones, come on," Booth pleaded, "You have to do this. You have to come. For Sweets."

"As I recall," Brennan growled, "Last time I attended a funeral for a close friend, they ended up being not dead. I'd like to not relive that experience." Booth rubbed his jaw at the memory. She had socked him good.

"As I recall, it was his fault in the first place that you didn't know," Booth countered, "But we got over it and he's been good to us."

"I can't. I'll mourn in my own way; you know I have my own system." Booth scowled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know this is hard, Bones. But this is about Sweets, not you." She flinched, his words stinging her, but she knew he was right. After a minute of scrutinizing him, she nodded submissively.

"You're right. I'll..I'll be there. Don't wait up."

"Bones-"

"I promise I'll be there, Booth. I promise." She gave him a pleading look and he let her go.

((()))

Sweets' funeral was beautiful. His coffin was white with a traditional U.S.A flag. He wasn't a soldier, but he was an FBI agent as well as deserving of the honor of bearing the flag. Everyone has something to say about Sweets; mostly nice things, and if they weren't nice, they were ironic and he would have appreciated it. Cam, Angela, and Hodgins had laid red roses on his coffin. Bones came late with a unique flower, or at least, unique for a funeral. It was an alstroemeria, she explained, and it traditionally represented a strong, caring friendship.

Booth smiled when she said that. Sweets wasn't anything if he wasn't a good friend. He looked down at the flower he had clutched in his own hand and frowned sadly. It was just a rose. A stupid rose. Bones had gone and gotten him a friendship flower and all he had to offer was a stupid cliché white rose. He had thought it was more special because it was a different color than everybody else's. But it wasn't. It wasn't good enough. A lump rose in his throat from sadness and frustration and he decided there was nothing he could do. Just like the circumstances of Sweets' death in the first place, he could do nothing about it. He hoped his friend would understand.

Booth kissed the flower before placing it on Sweets' coffin, feeling his eyes filling with angry tears again. Sweets hadn't deserved this.

"You were just a kid when we met," he started, staring numbly at the flowers, "I thought...I didn't think anything of you." He angrily wiped away some of his tears, "But you were one of the best, Sweets. All the times we bugged you about...you, you put up with it. You put up with us and you were the very best. The best psychologist, because you understood us. You understood how life worked and you wanted to fix it with your….with your stupid psychology." Whenever he said 'stupid', he didn't really mean it, and he hoped Sweets understood that too. He just didn't know how to express himself any better in his current state. "You were also the best kind of friend and a good man. You were caring, loyal, and fair to everyone who knew you and I wish...I wish you weren't dead." It was probably the most childish thing to say, but that was how he felt. His voice came out in a squeak and he felt Bones slip her hand into his. He squeezed it tightly for reassurance and finished, "I wish you weren't dead, because you had so much potential. So much life left, so much more you could have done, so many more lives you could have touched. You've touched so many already, and this wasn't...it wasn't your time and I'm sorry." He paused before adding, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for always being there for us. The world will be a darker place without you."

The silence that followed was only broken by a high-pitched whine from the back and the sound of muffled sobs. Bones turned and saw Daisy in the back, crying into a handkerchief and trying desperately not to embarrass herself in front of the crowd. But she was failing miserably at that anyway. Angela gave a small sigh and went to Daisy, wrapping her arms around her lightly to let the girl sob into her shoulder. Bones gave Angela a nod and turned her attention back to the front.

Booth was the closest to the hole where they were going to bury one of his best friends. He held back tears only for the sake of the others, so that he didn't end up breaking like Daisy. He would get past this. He always did. But this just felt different. Sweets wasn't just a comrade or a friend. He wasn't in combat when he died. He was a good friend, a good man, and in the position he was in, a civilian. He didn't deserve to die.

Booth saluted his friend as they lowered him into the ground, holding it together as best he could. In a few minutes, Sweets was gone for good. Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, as they say.

((()))

That evening, Booth crept out of the house, unaware of Bones watching him. He sat on the grass outside, just staring up at the stars for no apparent reason. Bones brought Christine out of the house with her and sat down next to Booth. He started when she sat next to him, startled by her presence. She too was staring at the stars. It was a beautiful night.

"Do you think he's watching over us, Booth?" she asked quietly, "Is that why you're out here?"

Booth hesitated to answer, but then nodded. She looked at him with a mysterious smile.

"I know it's completely impossible for dead people to watch us from the stars," she started. Booth opened his mouth angrily to tell her not to tell him that, and she cut him off, "But I do believe you're right. I know it's a silly idea, but I think he is, too." A light breeze picked up her words and whispered, at least it seemed to Booth, _He is too, he is too, he is too…._


End file.
